Editor's Notebook: Meet Terry Michel

This week, Patch debuts its first of several local voices bloggers, including Terry Michel of Terry Michel and Associates Real Estate.

Michel lives in Oakhurst with her chocolate lab mix rescue dog named Sweet Georgia Brown. A self-proclaimed, “stealth, under the radar techie,” Michel recently debuted DECATURdash, a free mobile app for Decatur events and activities.

On Patch, Michel plans to blog about local real estate trends. She’ll take the pulse of the market, provide ideas and tips on selling or buying in the local area, and discuss trends in this ever-changing economy and how they play out locally.

Patch sat down with Michel and this is what we found out about her:

Q: What attracted you to real estate?

A: I’ve always been fascinated by homes and design, and what makes a house a home for people. I’m also at the same time interested in the business perspective of it and statistics associated with the real estate market and what drives the market, what contributes to a market slow down, and what contributes to a market heating up. I focus on providing that information as a service to my clients.

Q: How long have you been in real estate and how many homes have you sold annually?

A: I’ve been in real estate for more than five years. I’ve sold more than $40 million in real estate in that time, and am the No. 1 individual agent in my office. My business is mostly focused here in Decatur, where I sell about 25 homes per year.

Q: How did you come up with the idea for DECATURdash?

A: I have a strong technology background, and have recently become very interested in mobile apps. As someone who has lived and worked in the neighborhood for a while, people are always asking me what events are going on and what’s coming up for the weekend. I saw a gap and though it would be great to have events and calendars in one place to take with you no matter where you are. 

Q: What does the free app do?

A: In addition to offering up-to-date information on the festivals, live music and dining events that make Decatur so special, DECATURdash also provides practical information about getting around town, the City Schools of Decatur calendar, city government and civic association meetings as well as a searchable dining, entertainment and shopping directory. We have the capability to push out code red alerts for the City of Decatur so if there’s a tornado or a school lockdown, or some other emergency, we can get the information out.

Q: What’s your connection to technology?

A: For eight years, I worked for MCI Telecommunications as a technology project manager. I also worked for Weather Channel’s, weather.com, a firm Agency.com, Vail Resorts, and Earthlink. I worked in e-commerce and on cutting edge technology and things changing the way business was done. I did it in 1994, before the commercial birth of the internet. In 1999 and 2000, we were selling ski passes online for Vail Resorts before e-commerce was what it is today. That kind of stuff excites me. Even at Earthlink, we were working on things such as anti-virus software, browser toolbars before they became the thing that everyone was doing. DECATURdash allows me to reconnect with my technology background. In addition to helping residents know what is going on in Decatur, it is also a way that technology can help elevate the community's profile for visitors and/or people considering a move to the local community.